When other nations are hit with calamity, whether it be terrorism or a natural disaster, it is the United States that comes to the rescue. The United States gave more than all other nations combined to the Tsunami relief efforts in Southeast Asia last December.

After the September 11 attacks, the Red Cross alone received over one billion dollars worth of contributions. The vast majority of funds came from individual Americans committed to helping our own. Alexis de Tocqueville wrote that "America is great because America is good." This generosity is a reflection of that goodness.

And yes, I am trying to encourage some friendly competition here. Tomorrow [Thursday] morning I will be publishing "leader boards" which show which charities are receiving the most donations, and which bloggers have been most successful in encouraging their readers to donate. So get your readership fired up!

Besides
ourselves, we note early this morning already two bloggers new on our
cyberhorizon are promoting this blog's chosen charity, Animal Rescue League of Boston, blogged here Tuesday.

JT of Old Controller,
who describes himself as a "retired AF officer, wannabe writer. We have
five dogs and two cats, and feed every squirrel and bird within ten
miles."

Mark of South Puget Sound Libertarian,
among other things a vet of the Army Medical Corps during the Vietnam
war, who writes "Having been frightened and depressed by the seemingly
irresistible march of big government, I first decided simply to avoid
it all. But now I have re-engaged and started this web log. I'm having
fun . . . so far.

SECOND INSTALLMENT: Okay, I'm totally overwhelmed with "Katrina Flood Aid" emails -- there are hundreds and hundreds. I'm going to keep posting as the day goes on, but no fancy alphabetical order or clever comments. And I'm not repeatedly linking to the same charities; I'll just mention 'em. There are just too many!

Update: Thanks to Kitty of Kitty Litter for linking our original ARL Boston post: "I can't even think of what would happen to our beloved pets in a flood of this magnitude." Check out what happened to a herd of Suidae in this photo flashback from Hurricane Floyd flooding in 1999, linked by Kitty at Byrd Droppings.